outlaw

Pretty much what it states.

I have 5 African Cichlids in a 46Gal tank. 4 Red Fin (1-Male, 3-Female), and 1 Male Yellow Lab. I've read that 3 Females to 1 Male is a good ratio to have but would put me at roughly 52" of Adult Fish. I have an Odyssea CFS 4 (up to 75Gal) canister filter and an Tetratec PF300 HOB filter on it. Everything is normal as far as ammonia (0), nitrites (0) and nitrates (0-10) go. I just think he is lonely. Am I wrong for thinking this? He doesn't seem to have any problems with any of the Red Fins (they actually chase each other around). I don't think I would have to worry too much about the extra waste but want to make sure other people would think its ok. The only catch other then overstocked, is that he is about fully grown and most of the Yellow Labs I have seen are fairly smaller then him and the Male Red Fin. Would there be and how much concern should there be? If needed I have a 20Gal tank I can use for them for a few months. I just don't want them to get picked on or killed because of their size. The smallest Red Fin is about 1.5" - 2" long and doesn't seem to have any problems... gets chased by the other Red Fins and sometimes chases them.

Any advice or input is appreciated. Thanks

darkwolf29a

I would say putting 52 in of fish in a 46 gallon tank is not good. I wouldn't do myself.

jri4

african cichlids are okay to overstock because it helps keep agression down. think of how hard it would be to chase someone through new york city compared to down a country street with no one else on it. Agression is way lower if you overstock cichlids. And with both filters, you are doing well on filtration; it could handle the extra load. 52 inches of fish or more is defintely doable. Trios is best, or all males from what I've heard. Others can help more. Keep in mind that overstocking is good for cichlids only!

outlaw

Thanks. Right now, buying any other fish is on hold. Our female Red Fins had babies, so our attention turned to that for now. There is about 35 of them! Anyways. We were thinking about trading them in just because of their size and the fact all of the ones we see at the store are quite a bit smaller. If we go that route, we will probably overstock it a little bit to keep the aggression down. I've been told our Male Red Fin was too big for our tank anyways since they do like the longer tanks (He is almost fully grown to the 8" they can get up to).

Thanks again.

Allie

I would only put around 20-25 fish, mildly aggressive-aggressive who only get 5' at the most. Like Pseudotropeus saulosi, labs, rusties, socolofi & an afra species. 1 male 2-3 females.

outlaw

whoa, 25 fish 5" long each in a 46Gal tank? Wouldn't that be too crowded even for overcrowding a tank? We were just thinking of adding the 2 or 3 female labs which would've brought us up to 7-8 in the tank. But, Allie, you were saying our Male Red Fin is too big for our tank which I do agree since he really doesn't have any room to run (so to speak). But all the females are too small it seems. We were going to just trade them in for a mixed tank that are all the same or relatively the same size or do a community tank. Thanks for the names too, I would've been looking forever to get the lengths of all the different kinds of cichlids.. I have to see what kind our LFS's carry too. Thanks and keep the info coming!

steveangela1

I would say the limit for the 46 would be about 10 cichlids, and I would keep it smaller sized cichlids with heavy filitration. For our 55 we are limiting the fish to 15. Overcrowd yes, but not get the cichlids that grow to huge sizes. The inch per gallon thing goes out the door for the cichlids.